Gay Issues

We are completely hooked on the dating research blog OKTrends because of how often it reminds us that the world is, in fact, a sane place — no matter how many of our politicians think that gay people shouldn’t be allowed to teach in schools or die for their country or get married or raise kids. The latest installment of research — based on OKCupid’s 3.2 million gay and straight users — is another perfect example, debunking some of the most common (and hostile) gay myths out there. For example, take the myth that “the gays” are on a mission to “convert” your precious little Johnny:

A great article in the NYTimes this past weekend about cyberbullying — and in particular cyberbullying over sexual orientation — included this line which really made us stop and think: “the punishment must fit the crime, not the sense of outrage over it.” It’s wise and it’s true, but we’d forgotten that — and it doesn’t answer the question, what do you do with all the outrage you feel? The outraged part of us feels that Tyler Clementi’s college roommate — who secretly filmed Clementi hooking up with another guy then posted it online, leading to Clementi’s suicide — deserves to go to jail for a long, long time. Same goes for the assholes who bullied 13-year-old Seth Walsh about his sexual orientation — Walsh hanged himself from a tree in his backyard last month and died after more than a week on life support. And countless other gay teen suicides across the country — often as a direct result of peer bullying.

If you’re in New York City next Thursday night and want something fun and fabulous to do, go to the 4th annual Naughty Auction benefiting the National AIDS Fund (which leverages resources, develops leadership and advocacy, and fosters community innovation to prevent new HIV infections and care for people living with HIV/AIDS). The party, held…

We should all be choking up, now that Congress has blocked the defense authorization bill (the bill that funds the miliatry) for the first time in decades simply because conservative members (and two Democratic senators!) don’t want to support gay rights, either because they think homosexuality is wrong or, more likely, they’re afraid of pissing…

Everyone’s saying you’ve just got to read the full text of Judge Vaughn Walker’s overturning of Prop 8 in California last Wednesday — apparently it’s a page turner! You can view it here in full. We admit, we haven’t yet read the whole thing ourselves, but thanks to Rachel Maddow, we were apprised of one…

“Equally Wed” is the new online magazine for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples who are tying the knot (legally or not). Launched this past March with their Spring Issue, they plan to publish one issue each season (their Summer Issue is up now). It’s got the typical bridal magazine stuff that just feeds the…

Yep, Rachel Maddow’s. Out and proud Rachel Maddow of MSNBC’s kick-ass liberal politics show “The Rachel Maddow Show.” Maddow, who wears as little makeup as the producers will let her get away with, who would never be caught dead in feminine jewelry (let alone pearls!), who’s always in jeans and sneaks under her television desk, who gets her haircut with what looks like a Flowbee. Don’t get us wrong — none of that is a dis. We love, love, love that Maddow refuses to abide by the strict beauty rules set for women in our society, especially in our society’s television media. Which is perhaps why this picture is so striking — it’s such a 180 for her, the epitome of the feminine ideal, even today: blonde, long-haired, tan, make-up-ed, and accessorized. We admit, our first reaction was: OMG! But why?

Okay, okay, we know that Iceland really screwed up air travel with that volcano incident. And the collapse of their financial system was a major international bummer. But they deserve to be forgiven — check it out:

Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir just married her long-term partner, making her the world’s first national leader with a same-sex spouse. The wedding took place the day a new law took effect, which defines marriage as a union between two consenting adults, regardless of sex.
Before she got married, her claim to fame was that she was the world’s only openly gay prime minister. But it was never a big deal in Iceland. Because, you know, it isn’t. Iceland has long been progressive in LGBT matters. All the way back in 1996, they passed a law creating registered partnerships for same-sex couples, which covered nearly all the rights and benefits of marriage.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Just in case you missed it over this long holiday weekend, at the end of last week the House voted to allow the repeal of the military’s discriminatory “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy against gays, as did the Senate Armed Services Committee. It’s…

We never thought we’d say this, but Perez Hilton has a point. We’re usually not fans, but he’s got a good bit on the importance of coming out on the fabulous site Big Think, which interviews hundreds of experts, from hedge-fund managers to neuroscientists, to help us plebs make better decisions and form more erudite…

We have mixed feelings about Maureen Dowd: on the one hand she is a totally awesome butt-kicking columnist who can swing with the big boys while pointing out how many of them are actually just whiny little boys. But on the other hand, she seems to phone it in a lot these days. That said, her recent columns about Elena Kagan have made us swoon again.

Last week, Illinois lawmaker Deborah Mell spoke on the state House floor to announce her “bittersweet” engagement to her girlfriend of six years — “bittersweet” because she’ll have to go next door to Iowa to tie the knot instead of doing it in the state where she grew up, where she now represents 100,000 people…

Remember when former Miss California Carrie Prejean got famous for (a) getting pageant-funded breast implants and (b) saying “I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there”? Well, suddenly No-Offense Prejean is looking like the picture of tolerance (after all, she did also say “I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage.”)

Enter Lauren Ashley, who will be representing Beverly Hills in the Miss California pageant this November. She was all like, I’ll see your “marriage is between a man and a woman” and I’ll raise you “punishment by death.” No, seriously.

We used to look forward to Superbowl Sunday for the ads (that, and the excuse to over-indulge in junk food). But it looks like CBS is determined to ruin the one sports-related joy in our lives. First of all they went and accepted an anti-choice ad from conservative Christian group Focus on the Family — apparently CBS no longer bans advocacy submissions or controversial ads, as they have claimed in the past. Of course, Focus on the Family claims the ad is not controversial at all, and is simply about “the issue of life.” Riiiight. The ad — which has not yet been released — is expected to feature Pam Tebow (mother of college football star Tim) and her decision to carry Tim to term despite a recommendation from doctors that she have an abortion. Sorry: despite a recommendation from doctors regarding the issue of life.

Unfortunately CBS’s policy on “controversial” ads still holds firm if the ad happens to come from a gay men’s dating site.

If you suspected a few members of the Justice League of America were gay (hello, Aquaman?) and always wished they’d come out of the closet, there’s now a new ALL-gay superhero comic just for you. It’s called Spandex. What it lacks in artistic skill (visually speaking, this ain’t no DC Comic), it makes up for in fabulous gay pride. There’s “Liberty (glamorous transvestite superhero), Diva (a lesbian Wonder Woman), Prowler (absorbs the abilities of gay people), Glitter (male Dazzler), Indigo (beautiful French teleporter), and Mr Muscles & Butch (strong twins)” (see above). We would have thought there’d be at least one big buff or bearded super dude and one super butch without cleavage, but that’s just us (and we’re neither gay nor comic-book readers, so what do we know?). It’s available from the U.K. but you can download a pdf of the first 40-page comic in the series via Paypal here. More excerpts after the jump.

Image is a summary of states’ attitudes on gay rights issues from a paper recently published in the American Political Science Review

Maine residents will decide Tuesday whether to repeal a law allowing same-sex marriage, an effort that has succeeded in every state where it has been put before voters.
Defenders and haters alike have descended on the state, where it seems the fight is neck and neck.

photo by Paul_Mannix Guess which book, according to the American Library Association, is the title most often requested to be removed from schools and libraries in the U.S.? Give up? For the third year in a row, it’s And Tango Makes Three, which is a guide to building your own bomb while smoking crack and attending…

One step forward in Texas: A judge in Dallas just ruled that it would hear a divorce suit by a gay couple who were married outside of Texas, even though same-sex marriages are banned in the state. (Perhaps they heard our recent suggestion to the state of Indiana that it’s Good Family Values to dissolve a marriage you didn’t think should exist in the first place.)
…and one step back: The University of North Texas student senate voted down a proposal allowing same-sex couples to run for homecoming king and queen.

We were tickled pink a few weeks back when we read about the so-called gay penguins who were raising an adopted chick. But “bisexual penguins” would probably have been more accurate; most scientists agree that animals that engage in same-sex activity don’t usually shun heterosexual encounters. Rather, they simply have ingrained gay tendencies that are a part of what make their little animal community work. As sociologist Eric Anderson of the University of Bath in England so succinctly puts it, “Animals don’t do sexual identity. They just do sex.”

While the issue of same sex relationships ruffles the feathers of various tribes among the supposedly higher brain functioning bipedal primate sub species of homo sapiens, this is barely a controversy in the rest of the animal kingdom who seem to all shrug their collective shoulders or fins or wings at gay and lesbian lifestyles. Scienceray lists ten animals comfortable with same sex partnerships.

From the book I’m Glad I’m a Boy! I’m Glad I’m a Girl! The new documentary OUTRAGE, opening this Friday, exposes closeted gay politicians who publicly oppose gay rights. The theory being, why should they get to stay in the closet if they’re actively holding back the gay rights movement in their day job and…

Study: Children Exposed To Pornography May Expect Sex To Be Enjoyable If Mainers and New Yorkers embrace Iowans’ “mind your own business” mentality, their states could be the next to legalize gay marriage (hope, hope). Of course, then you’ll get whackjob judges like this all over the place refusing to perform any marriages, just so…